Man City enter race for Benfica defender who almost joined Man United in January

Manchester City have entered the race for highly-rated Benfica defender, Victor Lindelöf, according to an exclusive report by Italian news portal Calciomercato.

22-year old Lindelöf, a Sweden international who joined Benfica from Västerås SK in 2012, was reportedly very close to joining neighbours Manchester United in January, but a deal wasn’t closed before the transfer window closed.

Calciomercato claims that City are now following Lindelöf, knowing for his good defensive ability and cultured passing (88.2% across Liga NOS and Champions League this season), on the advice of coach Pep Guardiola who is certain to add defenders to his squad in the summer.

Lindelöf is another name to the growing list of defenders – left, right and centre – being linked with a summer switch to the Etihad. Virgil van Dijk, Lucas Hernández and Aymeric Laporte are three other centre-halves who could be on their way, depending on which newspaper you believe.

As for Lindelöf, neither City or United are currently in pole position, with Spanish giants Real Madrid said to be ahead of the pack. Madrid’s plans could change before the summer, especially if Zinedine Zidane was to be given his marching orders.